SERMON VII.

JOHN vi. 51.

I AM THE LIVING BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN IF ANY MAN EAT OF THIS BREAD, HE SHALL LIVE FOR EVER: AND THE BREAD THAT I WILL GIVE IS MY FLESH, WHICH I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.

I NEED scarcely remind you of the connection and of the meaning of these words which have been brought before you several times. But I desire just simply and distinctly to state their meaning, that we may have a foundation on which to build our remarks. The words then, strictly and literally rendered, are, "I am the bread, the living bread, the bread which came down from heaven. If any one shall eat of this which is the bread, he shall live unto eternity; and moreover the bread which I shall give is that flesh of mine, which I shall give in behalf of the life of the world." I have now proceeded in this subject to that appropriation of it which belongs to the sacrament of the Supper. I

have distinctly said that this is not the only appropriation of it, but it is the preeminent appropriation of it. The eating of the bread which came down from heaven, the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the Son of man, is the taking into our mind the things of Christ, and digesting them, as we do our natural food by the bodily stomach. And this, I have observed, we do, as often as we set the Lord Jesus Christ in his risen form before our mind, and stedfastly contemplate Him, and so take in ideas or notions concerning Him as that which He is, the Second Person of the Godhead, who has not only made himself flesh by taking a perfect human substance into union with his eternal divine substance, but has turned that perfect human substance (as it respects the bodily or fleshly part of it) into a spiritual substance by, through, and after death, having risen again therefrom. But whilst, in whatsoever particular mode or exercise of the mind we may thus contemplate the risen Godman, we do really eat the bread which came down from heaven, eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, this hinders not that the Lord should have had especially in his mind's eye the particular ordinance of his Supper, and that we accordingly should especially in our observance of this rite, which He, having it in his mind's eye at the moment when He uttered these words, did afterwards institute,-this hinders not, I say, that in partaking of that ordinance especially we do thus eat the bread which came down from heaven, we

do thus eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son

of man.

I am brought therefore to that part of my subject in which I consider this particular mode of eating the bread which came down from heaven. And I have already noticed to you what the sacrament of the Supper is; what a sacrament universally is; what this sacrament in particular is: that a sacrament is most fitly defined in our Church Catechism, "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof." Several things therefore are necessary to constitute a sacrament. There must be an outward and visible sign, as well as an inward and spiritual grace. And it must have been ordained by Christ himself unto this end. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I have expressly declared, is a seal, a sign and a pledge. It is a seal to us of that acceptance in the Beloved which we obtain in our Baptism,-that it is continued to us; a seal to us that we are continued in the favour of God. It is also a sign to us of that mystical life—we live in times when mystery is despised —but it is a sign of that mystical life which was commenced to us in our Baptism. I do not stop to explain that particular now; it has often been brought before you. A sign, I repeat, of that mystical life which was commenced to us in our Baptism. And a pledge of the eternal continuance of that life.

This it is, even

as on our part it is an opportunity or occasion of declaring before witnesses that we stand in the faith of Christ. And this verifies what I have more than once remarked, that the Church, whilst it is gathered by the Word, is constituted by the sacraments. Those only

do form a part of the holy visible catholic Church, who have been introduced into it by Baptism. And those only do give and receive an assurance of their continuance in the same, who are habitually receivers of the Lord's Supper.

Now I would open a little more distinctly those few terms which I have used, beginning with the last first. What it is on our part. Have you any difficulty in apprehending, that, when you come to the Lord's table, and, after a solemn testimony from the Word of God, and many prayers offered, do make a confession of your sin, and implore forgiveness, and testify your desire of the grace of God in Christ Jesus,-have you any doubt, I say, that in doing this you do renew the public confession of your faith? What does it mean? Look at the confession. What does that confession mean, which forms a part of the service, and which precedes the absolution? It is a most distinct utterance of the Christian mind, the mind of one who knows and owns his sin; who implores the continuance or the restoration of God's favour in Christ. And what do you receive in return? You receive in the first place a precatory absolution. God's representative in Christ implores for you that you may have his blessing, that all your sins